A survey on the use of simulation in German healthcare

This paper reports on the results of a survey conducted among German healthcare institutions to collect data about the use of simulation in the respective field. The setup follows a survey published in Greasley (2008). One goal of the survey was to assess how many institutions have used simulation as a decision making tool before, and if they plan to do so in the future. Another focus are the potential reasons against the use of simulation, which are grouped into the categories costs, awareness, skills & experience, organizational-, and technical obstacles. The results indicate that while the use of simulation in German healthcare is low, costs are the main reason against a wider adoption. Following are lack of awareness among decision makers, and a lack of skills within the internal staff. An alleged negative reputation of simulation could not be confirmed.